Part of the fun of drinking cocktails is tapping into a history and a culture of a particular time. This is a discussion of drinks, spirits, bartending, and history for beginners and professionals alike.
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Tuesday, 22 January 2013

Five More Classic Cocktails for a Fancy Lady

Last
post (found here)we went through some of the best classic cocktails for a lady, but
the list to me feels incomplete without the following runner-ups. StingerThis
drink is very simple and not particularly interesting in flavour - in
fact, it can be way too sweet if made according to classic recipes.
However, it is an excellent digestif to end your dinner or evening, and
opens the door to some very interesting experimentation. Having a
half-sized cocktail of Cognac or brandy with bitters, or amaro, and some
representation of the mint flavour (be it Giffard menthe de pastille or
Branca Menta or an amaro like Nardini) has become a mainstay of my
drinking evenings. The drink also has a long American history, dating in
literature back to 1917’s “Ideal Bartender” book, which lists it simply
as equal parts of brandy and white crème de menthe. It was popular
amongst pilots in WWI because the young men preferred drinks not to
taste of alcohol, but also because the mint oil disguised the liquor on
their breath (as cocktail historian David Wondrich reasons). The Stinger
was a favourite of Billie Holiday, as well as enjoyed by the lovely
Grace Kelly [right] in 1956’s “High Society,” Katherine Hepburn in 1940’s
“Philadelphia Story,” and Jayne Mansfield and Cary Grant in 1957’s “Kiss
Them For Me” (in which Grant says “stingers - and keep them coming.”)
Giffard’s menthe de pastille can be substituted for crème de menthe (to
better effect in my opinion), but is more potent and should be balanced
accordingly. The below recipe is Wondrich’s:

2.25oz brandy0.75oz white crème de methe

Shake well with cracked ice, then strain into a cocktail coupe. Pink LadyThe
name is a little obvious for a lady cocktail choice, the drink is
pretty-looking, tastes fruity, but it still packs a punch. It also
carries a foggy history. Originally the recipes only included gin,
grenadine, and egg white (Cafe Royal Cocktail Book, 1937), but later
incarnations included lemon juice, applejack or apple brandy, and even
cream. Esquire’s 1949 “Handbook for Hosts” (mentioned last post) also
has this one in the ‘for the girls’ section. In popular culture, 1950’s
sex symbol Jayne Mansfield [right] used to drink them before meals, and in the
1937 film “Topper,” Constance Bennett gives one to Cary Grant. The most accepted recipe comes from David Embury’s “Fine Art of Mixing Drinks” in 1948:

Shake ingredients without ice, then add ice and shake again. Strain into a cocktail coupe.

Twentieth CenturyThis
is an excellent introduction to gin, or an excellent trick for anyone
who claims they don’t like gin. It originated in 1937’s Cafe Royal
Cocktail Book, credited to C.A. Tuck, a British bartender who created
the drink in honour of the Twentieth Century Limited. At the time this
was a wonder of modern technology: the world’s fastest and most
luxurious train that ran from Chicago to New York at 60 miles per hour
from 1902 to 1967. So fancy was this train and its many dining and
drinking cars, that passengers boarded and exited the train upon a red
velvet carpet, which is actually the origin of the phrase “red carpet
treatment.” The train was featured in several films, most prominently in
Alfred Hitchcock’s very influential “North by Northwest” (1959). The
drink itself is like a chocolate meringue dessert, but can still be made
dry enough to enjoy. Below is the traditional recipe, but click here to
see a variation using egg white and substituting a Giffard white
chocolate syrup for the very flat crème de cacao, along with a more
detailed history.

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail coupe. Jack RoseThis
pink and fruity sour has several theories of inception: named after a
lying gambler who had a famous run-in with the law in 1912 (and who may
have invented the drink himself), named after the Jaquemot rose because
of the colour (as claimed in the book “Old Waldorf Bar Days” in 1931),
or as recently uncovered in print in 1905, simply invented by a
bartender at Gene Sullivan’s Cafe in Jersey City. Sadly the oldest
printed account is the most likely one, negating the much more
interesting Jack Rose the gambler story, which also lends the parallel
of the drink itself being a liar, with its pink colour and fruity
flavour masking what is actually a very strong drink. It is nonetheless a
clever name, having both applejack and a rose
colour. To be traditional, applejack should be used, but calvados is
also acceptable and will offer a softer and fruitier drink. The juice is
not specified between lemon or lime in the history books, but I find
lime much more interesting. There are recipes galore on how to make
this, and a major factor is how you make your grenadine. The simplest
way is just to make a 1:1 simple syrup with real pomegranate juice in
place of water, and this will enable you to balance drinks the usual
way. Below is David Wondrich’s recipe:

AviationA
favourite among cocktail enthusiasts, the Aviation dates back to the
1910’s but underwent a recipe change in by 1930 when the Savoy Cocktail
Book omitted one of its ingredients: crème de violette. Throughout the
next seventy-five years violette was for the most lost and forgotten as
manufacture ceased, but thankfully in 2007 Rothman & Winter
reproduced it and now we have several kinds available to us in North
America. An Aviation without violette has none of the blueish colour for
which it was likely named, and a much flatter-tasting drink altogether.
Maraschino is somewhat of a challenge to the uninitiated, but with the
balance of citrus and floral flavours makes this an excellent
introduction. Below is Robert Hess’ adapted recipe. Click here tosee a more in-depth history of the Aviation.

2oz gin0.5oz lemon juice0.5oz maraschino liqueur0.24oz crème de violetteShake all ingredients with ice and strain into a cocktail coupe.